Lawn bag stuffing device

ABSTRACT

A leaf bag support device including a chute or funnel extending downwardly from a bag supporting portion, preferably with leg supports or stand support. The leaf bag stuffing device may have a rectangular or round opening at the top,. and may extend down into a leaf bag partially or wholly, in order to prevent puncturing of the bag when leaves or debris are stuffed into the lawn bag. Optional handles and removable leg portions may be of advantage, as well as various configurations for the chute. A waste masher is also disclosed to be used to stuff the leaves further down into the bag. Certain embodiments may be tipped on their side so that leaves can be directly scooped into the bag without having to lift the leaves.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/600,736 filed on Aug. 11, 2005.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to leaf bag support devices, and moreparticularly, the invention relates to a leaf bag stuffing device.

2. Description of the Prior Art

As long as people have had trees in their yards, they have had to rakeup the leaves every fall and dispose of them, in order to save theirlawn. Traditionally, people used to be able to rake their leaves intothe street, and the city would come by with a street cleaning machineand vacuum up all of the leaves, and take them away. Prior to that,people use to make piles of leaves and burn them in their yards, untilthe EPA decided that there was too much pollution going into the air.Consequently, most cities require that their residents rake their leavesup, and place them in biodegradable lawn yard waste bags. These bags aregenerally 30-gallon bags and capable of holding 50 pounds of yard waste.They are sold at local stores and through the Department of Public Worksof many cities. Conventional leaf bags are well known in the art,including one of the most common types of paper bags that are made ofbrown paper. These bags are recyclable and are favored by municipalitiesas they can be composted with the leaf contents since in the bags.However, they are hard to fill and they tip over easily.

These lawn bags are designed to be stuffed with leaves and other yardwastes, and placed by the curb for the city public works trucks to pickthem up. As the lawn bags cost approximately $0.30 a piece, people wouldlike to be able to stuff them as full as possible, while stillmaintaining the weight limit which is imposed by the city. However, withregards to leaves from one's yard, it is nearly impossible to go overthe weight limit for a fifty-pound bag with pure leaves. Therefore, itis important that one be able to stuff as many leaves into the bag aspossible.

During the operation of raking leaves and stuffing them into the bag,there have been many methods for filling the bags that residents employ.Some attempt to fold down the edges of the bag to give rigidity, or usethe rake to stuff the leaves further down into the bag, or using twopersons, if someone else is available, i.e. one to rake and one to stuffthe bag. Needless to say, stuffing the bag with as many leaves aspossible has become a difficult task. In order to maintain the uprightposition of the bag during the stuffing operation, there have been manyinventions including the “Magic Loop™”, widely available in hardwarestores, the “Ring™” for attaching to the side of a deck so that theleaves can be stuffed, among many other inventions for this purpose. Ihave purchased many of these inventions, and none of them have worked tomy satisfaction. Consequently, I wanted to invent a new lawn bagstuffing device which would give the most support to the bag, whilestill allowing as many leaves as possible to be stuffed into the bag.

It would be of a great advantage to the industry to have a leaf bagstuffing device that would resist punctures and would also allow greaterfilling of the bag in order to achieve full capacity. Recycling centersallow approximately 50 pounds per bag, although most bags, as they aretraditionally filled, are between 20 and 30 pounds. Therefore, there ismore capacity that could be used in order to maximize the usage of thebrown bags, which can be costly in great numbers.

Therefore, it is a desire of the industry to have provided a new meansand device for stuffing leaf bags.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the above-noted advantages and desires of theindustry, the present invention provides a leaf bag stuffing device thatis preferably self-supporting, and acts as a shield for puncturing. Thisdevice overcomes many of the aforementioned problems with the prior artbecause the present invention protrudes downwardly into the bag andprevents puncturing through the walls by sticks and debris.

Preferably, the leaf bag stuffing device of the present invention wouldbe a one piece molded resin that would be easy to stack, to allow foreasier shipping, and would further provide a puncture-proof shield forinsertion into a leaf bag itself. Furthermore, the leaf bag stuffingdevice would preferably have legs on the exterior in order to supportthe bag in a manner which allows for the bag to be held up so thatleaves can be raked up and lifted by the rake and put into the bag.After operation, the leaf bag stuffing device can be lifted up andremoved, thereby leaving a full capacity load within the leaf bag fordisposal.

The leaf bag stuffing device of the present invention is preferably of asize adapted to be received within a conventional yard waste bag, suchas those that are provided by municipalities and hardware stores. Itwill include a chute inlet funnel to be inserted into the leaf bag, andlegs, or a one-piece surround for supporting the chute up and around theleaf bag. It is most preferable to utilize legs around the outside tominimize the amount of plastic resin which is necessary to produce theleaf bag stuffing device, and furthermore, if one side of the chute isflat or contains a lip to be received on the ground, the leaves can beshoveled into the leaf bag if the leaf bag stuffing device is tipped onits side and allowed to rest on the ground. Obviously, the manyembodiments for such a leaf bag stuffing device, including numerouslegs, a round exterior, a rectangular exterior, or any other embodimentwhich would allow for maximum filling of the leaf bag.

Although the invention will be described by way of examples hereinbelowfor specific embodiments having certain features, it must also berealized that minor modifications that do not require undoexperimentation on the part of the practitioner are covered within thescope and breadth of this invention. Additional advantages and othernovel features of the present invention will be set forth in thedescription that follows and in particular will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art upon examination or may be learned within thepractice of the invention. Therefore, the invention is capable of manyother different embodiments and its details are capable of modificationsof various aspects which will be obvious to those of ordinary skill inthe art all without departing from the spirit of the present invention.Accordingly, the rest of the description will be regarded asillustrative rather than restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a further understanding of the nature and advantages of the expectedscope and various embodiments of the present invention, reference shallbe made to the following detailed description, and when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like parts aregiven the same reference numerals, and wherein;

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a leaf bag stuffing device made inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 a details another embodiment of the present invention in aperspective view;

FIG. 2 b is a side elevational view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 a;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 a is a top plan view of yet another embodiment;

FIG. 4 b is a side elevational view of the embodiment illustrated inFIG. 4 a; and FIG. 5 illustrates complementary is a waste masher, whichis complementary to the leaf bag stuffing device of FIG. 1-4 a.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In accordance with the objects and advantages of the present invention,the present invention discloses a lawn bag stuffing device which addsrigidity to the walls of a lawn bag, such that a great deal of materialcan be inserted into the bag, without puncturing the bag, or having thebag collapse in on itself, etcetera. In essence, this allows what isnormally a two-person job to become a one-person job with the greatestof efficiency. As will be seen in the ensuing paragraphs, there areseveral different embodiments which will achieve the same purpose. Allof them will have in common a similar feature of a funnel which issimilarly shaped to the opening of a lawn bag extending downwardly fromthe top of the bag nearly to the bottom of bag. The fundamental featureis the funnel which will hold the bag open for stuffing. Although thefunnel doesn't necessarily have to extend downwardly to the bottom ofthe lawn bag interior, it may prove helpful to prevent twigs andbranches from poking through the bag. Further, legs may prove helpful tosupport the funnel, although they would not be necessary for allapplications. With that overriding objective in mind, we look at thefollowing embodiments.

Looking first to FIG. 1, there is shown a one-piece lawn stuffing bagdevice generally denoted by numeral 10. Although there are otheroptions, this embodiment is preferably made of a one piece moldedplastic similar to the stacking resin lawn chairs. In order to add alightweight feature, the plastic may be lightweight. It may also bedesigned with a slight tapered chute to allow stacking for storage andshipment. The chute, or downwardly extending funnel, is slightly smallerthan the interior dimensions of a standard city lawn bag. In the presentinvention lawn bag stuffing device 10 includes an inlet 12 which extendsinto a chute 14. Chute 14 fits into yard waste bag 16 through the bagopening 17. Legs 18 are used to make sturdy the stuffing device.Although legs are optional, in this embodiment, which is preferably madeof a one piece molded resin, it is preferred to include them, as legs 18add a dimension of stability. In operation, one would turn the lawn bagstuffing device upside down, and open a lawn bag and slide it down ontothe chute while inverted. Then the combination of bag and stuffingdevice is then turned over so that the ground now supports the bottom ofthe bag as well as the legs on the stuffing device. The bag is thenfilled from above through the funnel and the chute until it is full, andthe stuffing device is then lifted out of the bag. The bag may then beclosed and dragged to the curb for proper disposal. Therefore, the bagstuffing device keeps the bag open for easy loading, and it also allowsthe bag to be filled with more rigid material, as rips on the side ofthe bag from twigs and branches will be reduced because the chute actsas protection for the sides of the bag. The chute may extend down to thebottom of the bag so that it rests on the ground, but may be of anyadvantageous depth.

Looking next to FIG. 2A, there is shown a lawn bag-stuffing device withthe chute inlet funnel generally denoted by numeral 20 including afunnel extension 22 for insertion into yard waste bag 24 through bagopening 26. The legs 28 may be removable, and may be tubular forslipping into holes in the funnel section. Preferably, the tubular legsmay include a four leg or a three-leg configuration. Funnel extension 22is a removable collapsing plastic chute material which may attach to thetop of the inlet funnel and slip into the waste bag. Again, as above,the funnel extension 22 is preferably of a dimension substantiallyequivalent to the interior dimensions and depth of a standard 30-gallonyard waste bag, so that it can slip inside and rest on the ground so asto protect the entire sides of the bag. FIG. 2B shows how the removablecollapsing chute funnel extension 22 can butt up against the bottom ofthe funnel 20, so that downward pressure of the bag onto the funnelextension 22 will meet with resistance from funnel 20 both while the bagis being installed in its inverted position, as well as during theoperation of stuffing the leaves into the bag.

FIG. 3 shows yet another embodiment of the present invention in which around chute inlet funnel is generally denoted by the numeral 30 and isadapted for receiving funnel extension 32, whether as an integral part,or as a removable collapsible chute component. Regardless, the funnelextension 22, is once again adapted in dimension for being receivedwithin a standard 30-gallon yard waste bag 34 with a bag opening 36 toaccommodate the funnel extension 32. Needless to say, the lawnbag-stuffing device can be sized to be utilized with any size of bag, as30 it is certainly not restricted to 30-gallon yard waste bags. In thisembodiment, legs 38 may be removable for easy stacking and storage or asin the case of FIG. 1, may be an integral part of the chute inlet funnel30 or may be removable as shown. If the chute extension 32 issufficiently rigid, there may not be a need for legs 38. In that case,funnel extension 32 would extend downwardly far enough to rest on thebottom of the lawn bag, and the funnel extension itself would supportthe yard waste-stuffing device.

FIG. 4A shows a top plan view of a lawn bag-stuffing device inaccordance with the present invention, but shows another embodiment,including numerous handles for maneuvering the lawn bag. These handles,or holes, may be utilized in any of the present embodiments, and are notrestricted to those shown in FIG. 4A. In this embodiment, the yard wastestuffer funnel is generally denoted by numeral 40 and includes an innerfunnel portion 42 which leads down into the chute 44. Handles 46 may beincorporated for ease of handling once the chute is in place, and can beused to move the bag and the stuffing device from location to location.Again, there may or may not be legs, which may be integral or removableas with the other embodiments. Taking a line along section line A-A,FIG. 4B shows a cross sectional side elevational view, illustrating apossible groove configuration, the chute extension receiving groove,generally denoted by numeral 50 and may include groove tongues 52 toreceive the chute funnel extension 54 therein. Needless to say, thereare many ways known in the art for securing the chute funnel 54 to theupper funnel 44 in the event that it is desired that the chute extensionshould be removable, and perhaps collapsible, for easy storing andshipping. As also before, optional removable legs 48 may be receivedunder the upper lip of yard waste stuffing funnel 40. The legs which mayor may not be necessary, and could be tubular in shape, or moldedplastic, metal, wood or any combination thereof.

In order to help the stuffing operation, it may be helpful to include a“waste masher” which may be made of any suitable material, such as amolded plastic as shown in FIG. 5 and generally denoted by the numeral60. Masher 60 may include a mallet head 62 attached to the bottom of ahandle 64 so that once the waste has been placed into the funnel, theperson doing the stuffing operation can utilize the waste masher 60 topush the leaves and yard debris down into the bag without cutting orhurting his or her hand. Although the device is shown in a relativelyrectangular shape, the inventor envisions many different shapes,including a round or square block with slight radiuses on all the comersto add for strength. In addition, the waste masher could have a roundcircumference, or any other shape which may prove to be useful. It isenvisioned that the most preferable embodiment would be a substantiallyrectangular or square shape because it would most closely approximatethe shape of the lawn bag which is being stuffed.

Therefore, the present invention may be utilized especially for use inthe fall when leaves fall from trees, and homeowners have to clean uptheir yards, or for grass clippings, construction clean up. For manyyears, people have been doing the frustrating operation of trying tofill the lawn bags without toppling them over, or without needing thehelp of another person. After experimenting with the other devices thatare available on the market it became incumbent upon the inventor, todevelop a more useful stuffing device for help while raking up yardwaste.

The foregoing description of a preferred embodiment of the invention hasbeen presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formdisclosed. Obvious modifications or variations are possible in light ofthe above teachings with regards to the specific embodiments. Theembodiment was chosen and described in order to best illustrate theprinciples of the invention and its practical applications to therebyenable one of ordinary skill in the art to best utilize the invention invarious embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of theinvention be defined by the claims which are appended hereto.

1. A lawn bag stuffing device for supporting a leaf bag in a position toreceive leaves, comprising: a chute inlet funnel to extend downwardlyinto a lawn bag; a lawn bag exterior support attached to said chuteinlet funnel, whereby the lawn bag is supported around the outside and afunnel holds open the bag from the inside.
 2. The device of claim 1,wherein said exterior support includes support legs.
 3. The device ofclaim 1, wherein said chute inlet funnel is made of plastic resin.